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Bess Roth
Philip’s older brother and Herman and Bess’s son Sandy is a talented artist whose intense desire to please others and prove himself leads him down a dangerous path. Sandy harbors a secret love of Lindbergh, even as Lindbergh’s anti-Semitic beliefs and isolationist, antiwar rhetoric sends shockwaves through Sandy’s community when Lindbergh is elected president in the fall of 1940. Sandy covets an idyllic American life and longs to separate himself from his Jewish identity. He becomes deeply involved in the Office of American Absorption (OAA), taking Aunt Evelyn’s employment there are a sign that the office’s programs are safe and innocent. When Sandy participates in the OAA’s Just Folks program and spends a summer on a farm in Kentucky, he returns extolling the virtues of rural life and speaking with a country accent. Sandy begins referring to his family as “you people,” seeking to separate his own identity from theirs. Sandy’s involvement with the OAA rachets up as Bengelsdorf, seeking “revenge” on Herman for Herman’s excoriation of the rabbi’s isolationist, America First beliefs, appoints Sandy to work as a recruiter for Just Folks. Sandy’s continual betrayal of his family frustrates and indeed frightens Bess and Herman, who are already struggling with the painful realities of raising a Jewish family in a world that is growing increasingly hostile toward Jews no matter how much they profess their allegiance to their homeland or to Gentile values. Sandy’s struggle is profound and intense, and by the end of the novel, Sandy has more or less abandoned his fealty to Lindbergh and the OAA—yet he still has trouble understanding what his Jewish identity means in the context of the Jewish people’s long and painful history.
Sanford “Sandy” Roth Quotes in The Plot Against America
The The Plot Against America quotes below are all either spoken by Sanford “Sandy” Roth or refer to Sanford “Sandy” Roth. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
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Chapter 1 Quotes
“Alvin’s going to go to Canada and join the Canadian army,” he said. “He’s going to fight for the British against Hitler.”
“But nobody can beat Roosevelt,” I said.
“Lindbergh’s going to. America’s going to go fascist.”
Then we just stood there together under the intimidating spell of the three portraits [of Lindbergh.]
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It was when I looked next at the album’s facing page to see what, if anything, had happened to my 1934 National Parks set of ten that I fell out of the bed and woke up on the floor, this time screaming. […] Across the face of each, […] across everything in America that was the bluest and the greenest and the whitest and to be preserved forever in these pristine reservations, was printed a black swastika.
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Chapter 2 Quotes
We had driven right to the very heart of American history, and whether we knew it in so many words, it was American history, delineated in its most inspirational form, that we were counting on to protect us against Lindbergh.
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Chapter 5 Quotes
My brother had discovered in himself the uncommon gift to be somebody, and so while making speeches praising President Lindbergh and while exhibiting his drawings of him and while publicly extolling (in words written by Aunt Evelyn) the enriching benefits of his eight weeks as a Jewish farm hand in the Gentile heartland—while doing, if the truth be known, what I wouldn’t have minded doing myself, by doing what was normal and patriotic all over America and aberrant and freakish only in his home—Sandy was having the time of his life.
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Chapter 6 Quotes
“And who will I talk to?” she asked. “Who will I have there like the friends I’ve had my whole life?”
“There are women there, too.”
“Gentile women,” she said. […] “Good Christian women,” she said,” who will fall all over themselves to make me feel at home. They have no right to do this!” she proclaimed. […] “this is illegal. You cannot just take Jews because they’re Jews and force them to live where you want them to.”
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“I lived in Kentucky! Kentucky is one of the forty-eight states! Human beings live there like they do everywhere else! It is not a concentration camp! This guy makes millions selling his shitty hand lotion—and you people believe him!”
“I already told you about the dirty words, and now I’m telling you about this ‘you people’ business. ‘You people’ one more time, son, and I am going to ask you to leave the house.”
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Chapter 9 Quotes
This was how Seldon came to live with us. After their safe return to Newark from Kentucky, Sandy moved into the sun parlor and Seldon took over where Alvin and Aunt Evelyn had left off—as the person in the twin bed next to mine shattered by the malicious indignities of Lindbergh’s America. There was no stump for me to care for this time. The boy himself was the stump, and until he was taken to live with his mother’s married sister in Brooklyn ten months later, I was the prosthesis.
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Sanford “Sandy” Roth Character Timeline in The Plot Against America
The timeline below shows where the character Sanford “Sandy” Roth appears in The Plot Against America. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Chapter 1: Vote for Lindbergh or Vote for War
...Herman, is an insurance salesman, and his mother, Bess, is a homemaker. His older brother, Sandy, is a 12-year-old with a talent for drawing. Philip himself, meanwhile, is a boy of...
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...fame. He completed the trip on the same day Bess discovered she was pregnant with Sandy, giving the trip a personal place in the Roth family lore. Sandy was only four...
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...of the Republican Convention. After hours of listening to a deadlocked convention on the radio, Sandy and Philip go to bed. At 3:18 a.m., Lindbergh walks onto the floor of the...
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Philip’s brother Sandy is a talented young artist known throughout the neighborhood for his ability to draw anyone...
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One day, home alone with Philip, Sandy opens up his portfolio and spreads out on the dining room table several portraits of...
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Chapter 2: Loudmouth Jew
...else and begins to cry. As they arrive at their destination safely, Bess apologizes to Sandy and Philip, claiming that she doesn’t feel she lives in a “normal country” anymore.
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...they’ll all feel better after a rest. Before leaving the memorial, Herman urges Philip and Sandy to take a long look at the huge statue of Lincoln and enjoy the sight...
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...them a room at a nearby hotel that’s just as nice. Just at that moment, Sandy points up at the sky: a low-flying plane is roaring over Washington. Mr. Taylor explains...
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Chapter 3: Following Christians
On the last day of June 1941, Sandy leaves for Kentucky. As part of a program created by Lindbergh’s Office of American Absorption...
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Over dinner one night, when Sandy was still begging to go to Kentucky against his parents’ wishes, Aunt Evelyn accused Herman...
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Just days after Sandy leaves for Kentucky, the Roths receive a letter from the War Department in Ottawa—Alvin has...
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Meanwhile, Sandy writes weekly, sending long letters filled with descriptions of farm life or drawings of animals....
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After Aunt Evelyn leaves that night, Bess tells Sandy the sad news about Alvin’s leg. Sandy almost immediately breaks down in tears and then...
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That night in bed, Philip asks Sandy all about his summer in Kentucky and listens as Sandy rapturously describes life in the...
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...Rabbi Bengelsdorf arrive for dinner. Bengelsdorf is charming, complimentary, warm, and he’s keenly interested in Sandy—the boy who has “made [them] all so proud” with his participation in Just Folks. Bengelsdorf,...
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...is more alarmed than ever. The next day, Evelyn calls Bess to tell her that Sandy has been selected by the rabbi personally as a recruiting officer for the Just Folks...
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...takes a job selling dresses at a department store in town. She tells Philip and Sandy that she has taken the job in preparation for the additional expenses that sheltering Alvin...
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Chapter 4: The Stump
...in, Herman and Bess warn Philip not to be afraid of Alvin—or of his leg. Sandy rushes down the platform to meet Alvin, who is being pushed off the train in...
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...his baggage, he stands up out of his wheelchair and begins hopping through the station. Sandy, concerned, asks the nurse if Alvin could slip and fall. The nurse, however, assures him...
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Sandy, Herman, and Alvin load Alvin’s luggage into the car while Philip and Bess take the...
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The next day, when Philip returns home, Alvin is at the dentist and Sandy is out with Aunt Evelyn. Home alone, Philip decides to play with Alvin’s bandages and...
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...the time. As Philip and Alvin grow closer, Philip knows that Alvin must have noticed Sandy’s removal from the family and filled in the blanks regarding Sandy’s allegiances.
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Chapter 5: Never Before
Philip tells the story of how Alvin came to “have it in” for Sandy. One morning, before his stump had healed, Alvin was home alone, walking around the house...
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Alvin realizes that Sandy—and many other Jews in Newark—don’t just tolerate but are beginning to actively support Lindbergh, given...
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...that he had begun to use Alvin as a kind of stand-in for the aloof Sandy, who is now constantly off on speaking engagements with Aunt Evelyn. Now that Alvin is...
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...mother’s work to question her and his father’s office to question him, and even boarded Sandy’s bus home from Aunt Evelyn’s office to question him—all because of Alvin’s association with Shushy....
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After dinner, Bess and Herman take food to Mrs. Wishnow and Seldon. Philip tells Sandy the rumor he heard about Mr. Wishnow having committed suicide. Sandy is skeptical and tells...
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...on worldwide happenings—Herman goes about once a week to see a show and often brings Sandy and Philip along, as Shepsie lets the boys in for free. Philip, now nine, loves...
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Philip, influenced by something Alvin said before leaving home, has come to see Sandy, Aunt Evelyn, and the “great” Rabbi Bengelsdorf as opportunists. Philip believes that Sandy, having realized...
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...Evelyn off as crazy, but when she calls to tell them that she wants for Sandy to accompany her as an emissary of Just Folks, Herman flies off the handle and...
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...demanding to be let in. She tries to explain what an honor it is for Sandy to be invited to such an event, but Herman insists that as long as a...
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When Bess does not return, Herman, Sandy, and Philip—none of whom have uttered a word to one another for over an hour—go...
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...he will never forget how Herman has treated Evelyn after all he has done for Sandy. Herman goes out in the car to pick Bess up. When he brings her home,...
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The next morning, Philip and Sandy are surprised when they go into the kitchen for breakfast and find that Herman hasn’t...
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Bess warns Sandy that what Herman is saying is true, and that it’s time for their family to...
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...the White House’s dinner. He questions how such horrible things could be happening in America. Sandy declares that nothing is happening in America and leaves the table.
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Philip is unsettled by Sandy’s behavior. He begins to worry that Sandy will soon run away from home and perhaps...
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Chapter 6: Their Country
When Herman tells Sandy, Philip, and Bess the news, Bess becomes panicked. She knows that in the town of...
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...that they can ask him any questions they want or express any concerns they have. Sandy, though, is delighted about the move—Danville is just 14 miles from the Mawhinneys’ farm. Philip...
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...force them to move—the government cannot make Jews do something just because of their religion. Sandy mocks Bess for her paranoia and then gets up and heads to the bedroom. Abandoned...
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...has brought it for him from the White House dinner. She gives him one for Sandy, too, then asks what Seldon’s last name is. Philip tells her. Evelyn asks if Seldon...
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...a small group of concerned Jewish MetLife agents and their wives. Mrs. Wishnow drops Philip, Sandy, and Seldon off at a movie theater in the next town over. The group of...
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When Philip, Sandy, and Seldon return home from the movies, they enjoy leftover deli sandwiches from the meeting...
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...his own country—Bess, however, retorted that the country now belongs to Lindbergh and the goyim. Sandy told Philip, alone in their room that night, that their parents are “paranoid ghetto Jews.”
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As an advertisement comes on, Philip hears Sandy begin screaming at the radio, calling Winchell a liar and excoriating Herman for listening to...
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Chapter 7: The Winchell Riots
...sleeps during the day and leaves the house for work each night at five. Philip, Sandy, and Bess must all be careful not to disturb Herman, who now sleeps odd hours....
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Philip is shocked by Herman’s transformation—but also by Sandy’s less obvious one. Sandy, who was so angry and contemptuous for so long, is more...
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Over the summer, Bess keeps a closer eye than usual on Sandy and Philip, insisting they check in at home twice a day and refrain from going...
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...MetLife families, Herman takes everybody out for ice cream. Bess cries silently as Philip and Sandy eat their sundaes. Suddenly, she exclaims that Lindbergh is teaching them a lesson about what...
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Chapter 8: Bad Days
...wrong all along—he wants to talk to Shepsie about emigration to Canada. As Philip and Sandy head from home for school, the exhausted Philip weeps the whole way—he feels that soon,...
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Chapter 9: Perpetual Fear
...refrigerator, and tell her what’s inside. He does so—there is not much to eat. Philip, Sandy, and Herman have gathered in the kitchen—Bess asks Sandy how far the Mawhinneys are from...
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All Philip can think of that night—and in the days to follow, as Herman and Sandy drive out to Kentucky to scoop up Seldon and bring him home to live with...
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On Thursday, October 15th, after Herman and Sandy have departed for Kentucky, the phone rings—it is Aunt Evelyn, announcing Rabbi Bengelsdorf’s arrest. That...
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Bess begins crying—she regrets having let Sandy and Herman go off into Lindbergh’s increasingly dangerous America, and she now regrets having turned...
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Bess returns home, anxious to hear from Philip whether Herman or Sandy has called to say they’ve gotten safely to Kentucky. She’s upset when Philip has no...
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Sandy and Herman’s 1,500-mile trip out west is the “adventure of Sandy’s lifetime.” Herman carries Mr....
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Calling a tow truck—and seeking medical help for Seldon—is fraught business, as Herman and Sandy are terrified that the country folks they encounter on the backroads of West Virginia will...
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While Herman is being fixed up by the country doctor in Appalachia, Sandy begins sketching one of the other patients at the clinic—a blonde 13-year-old girl. When Herman...
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After returning from Kentucky, Seldon comes to live with the Roths. Sandy moves into the front room and Seldon takes over the bed next to Philip’s, the...
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